Devils win 2017 NHL Draft Lottery

The Devils hold the first overall selection in the 2017 NHL Draft after winning the NHL Draft Lottery on Friday. New Jersey, who had an 8.5 percent change of winning, moved up from No. 5.

“You know what your odds are and it happens real quickly, but for me it’s really great for our franchise and our fans,” Devils general manager Ray Shero said, according to NHL.com. “Especially where we’re going and what we want to do. We have 11 picks (in the 2017 draft) and now we have the No. 1 pick, which is a great building block for our franchise moving forward.”

The Philadelphia Flyers will draft second after moving up from No. 13, and the Dallas Stars will select third after moving up from No. 8.

Only once in the past six years has the team with the best odds at winning the lottery done so.

The Colorado Avalanche, who finished 30th in the NHL standings in 2016-17, had the best odds at 18.0 percent but fell to No. 4. The Vancouver Canucks, second with a 12.1 percent change, will draft at No. 5.